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a 21 O-acre site-an area larger than the hearts of downtown Minneapolis or Denver. On the campus are new clinics, a hospital and re- Mrch center, education and administrative ~ctions, housing for medical staff and stu- oents, and a hotel. Development of the Phoe- nix campus is just beginning. This could be a majot center with much of the convenience, urbanity, and amenity of a downtown. With such strong demand, the Mayo Clinic is obviously in a position to lead-and the local market is able to support-almost any plan that can be imagined. The degree to which this can be a true mixed-use project is limited only by the clinic's understanding of what is possible and of how its needs can be best met in the context of a mixed-use core. Next steps Douglas Porter has identified two types of mixed-use areas and some new centers that match them. (See "Business-Oriented Neigh- borhoods: Their Time Has Come," Januaty 2004). He sees these as evolving from office parks and similar clusters of non-residential What the Expert Said _tor Gruen, once a successful shopping center designer, later became a severe critic. In his 1973 book, Centers for the Urban Environment, he wrote that shopping centers had become a bad model for almost every kind of development. What he especially dis- liked was its "uni-functional" composition. Below are four examples of uni-functional centers that Gruen said would operate better as mixed-use centers. Others might include medical, sports, research, and back office functions. · Civic centers. "These are huge conglom- erations of governmental office structures in which bureaucrats meet only bureaucrats and are estranged from those whom they are sup- posed to serve. Like all un i-functional centers, they create traffic peaks. . . . They become deserted and sometimes unsafe in the evening and during holidays." · Centers for the performing arts. "They repre- sent the ingenious idea of concentrating a number of theaters, an opera house, and concert halls on one isolated land area. . . The only effects are that they flatter the ego of their sponsors . create chaotic traffic congestion during the rt time spans when all the show places begin or end their performances." · Educational centers. "Whether high school or university campuses, these constitute ghet- use to mixed-use with both civic and residen- tial components. He identifies emerging cen- ters near Dallas, Charlotte, West Palm Beach, and Washington, D. C. Once this trend takes hold, he says, it opens the way to creating thousands of mixed-cores through retrofit- ting of existing office and industrial parks, and medical, university, corporate, recreational, and other campuses. What must we do to make successful mixed- use development the norm? First, we should give formal endorsement, perhaps in the policy structure of our profes- sional groups, to the concept of mixed-use cores. Second, we should also provide guidelines and principles for development. Hundreds of mixed-use developments fall far short of their potential because they fail to follow one or more of the seven basic elements explained above. Understanding and commitment are needed. Third, major educational and research cen- ters should be established around the U.S. to assess the value and potential of mixed-use cores. These could be connected with appropriate plan- ning, professional, or university organizations, tos for the young." · Office centers: "Here offices of private corporations are concentrated in heaps of sky- scrapers, traffic-logged at office opening and closing times and deserted" at other times. Gruen pointed to particular problems of uni-functional developments: needlessly costly and complicated travel patterns, sterile envi- ronments with limited services, and unneces- sary public and private financial burdens. As a foomote, it should be said that Vienna, Austria, Gruen's hometown, offers an example of how not to build a core. The United Nations has developed a complex of offices there that employ more than 4,000 people. The area has good access to highways and transit, and it attracts thousands of visitors each year for meet- ings and conferences. But in almost every other regard it fails to conform to sound principles for core develop- ment. It is almost completely unifunctional and is separated from most of the uses that would be mutually beneficial, including housing and businesses that would help to meet the needs of visitors and employees. The need to avoid this kind of project and replace it with good mixed-use development as envisioned by Gruen and many others is very great. American Planning Association 43 such as the Regional Plan Association and AP A. Finally, states should become much more involved in promoting mixed-use core devel- opment. Such involvement and cooperation is needed to mediate, support, and span the interests of individual communities and to provide an umbrella of policies, programs, and laws to encourage and support core devel- opment. A few states are involved in small but useful ways in Main Street programs spon- sored by the National Trust for Historic Pres- ervation. This approach should be broadened and expanded. The problems limiting mixed-use areas are fewer and easier to overcome than they have been in past decades. However, these places are not going to happen without the support and work of the planning commu- nity. Much needs to be done. Rodney Engelen, now retired, was a cofounder and senior partner of Barron-Aschman Associates in Evanston, Illinois, where he assisted 50 communities in planning their downtowns. He later was assistant to the mayor of Phoenix and an adjunct professor in . planning at Arizona State University. ! c c ~ Ci: c ~ '" 1 K '" ~ g